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When Labor culled their best: from Hawke to Rudd

By Alexander Morgan - posted Tuesday, 9 August 2011


According to David Marr "Rudd leads no faction in the party...Rudd's dominance in the party was about the polls". Hence when the polls began to turn from 2009, so did Rudd's support within the party. In addition, Rudd had further alienated himself from the factions in breaking with tradition to elect his own ministry, so when Rudd found himself in political trouble, he had no real factional allies or support. In 2006 he was elected leader of the Labor Party on the basis of his high public profile and Labor's poor stand in the polls under Kim Beazley. Hence Rudd had little or no support within the party and when his relationship with the electorate diminishing, the ALP lost confidence in Rudd's ability to govern.

Like Hawke's demise in 1991, the NSW Right played an instrumental role in the defeat of the Prime Minister. Mark Arbib, who had helped get Rudd the numbers to defeat Beazley, paired up with Victorian Right powerbroker Bill Shorten to ensure a change of leadership. They were concerned about the Governments performance in the upcoming election and subsequently turned to Gillard for leadership. Shorten allegedly raised the issue of Rudd with Gillard, whilst Arbib planned to inform Rudd to resign. With Shorten and Arbib working against Rudd one of his few supporters Anthony Albanese from the Left, was unable to raise enough support for Rudd. Finally Gillard was convinced that a change was necessary and consequently she was elected by the caucus as Australia's first female Prime Minister.

Unlike Keating it is unclear as to the extent of Gillard's leadership ambitions, but none-the-less she was a key architect responsible for the removal of Rudd as Prime Minister. According to Gillard she "came to the decision [to challenge Rudd] slowly" as she believed "a good government in some areas had lost its way". However according to political reporter Laurie Oakes, the pace of her decision was due to the fact a challenge "would be too messy and risky with an election looming". A clear example of Gillard's contribution to the downfall of Rudd occurred prior to the leadership challenge. Gillard, along with Wayne Swan (now her Deputy), played a major part in convincing Rudd to shelve the ETS; the fatal policy that saw Rudd's popularity slide and her election as leader.

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It is alleged that Gillard had the opportunity to take the leadership in 2006, however she was impeded by the fact she was from the Labor Left. Furthermore a contest between her and Rudd would run the risk of Beazley being re-elected leader, thus forcing her to settle for the Deputy position under Rudd. Hence with Beazley gone, Rudd's popularity in decline, and the support of the Labor Right, Gillard was able to win the support of the caucus that would lead to the resignation of Rudd.

The Australian Labor Party's decision to discard Hawke and Rudd, Australia's most popular Prime Ministers came as a result of fatal policies, influential Labor factions and powerbrokers, and the roles of Keating and Gillard. Hawke, unable to effectively manage the declining economy, lost the support of the Labor Left and Richardson, and was duly defeated by Keating in a caucus room ballot. Similarly Rudd was unsuccessful in implementing his ETS and had no factional support to combat a challenge from Deputy Prime Minister Gillard, and accordingly resigned the leadership. Their successors as Prime Ministers would go onto win the ensuing elections (Gillard with the support of cross benchers), whilst Hawke and Rudd became the only Labor Prime Ministers to be defeated at the hands of their own party.

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About the Author

Alexander Morgan is a politics graduate from the University of New South Wales.

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